


Figure It Out

by Hanna_Tucker



Category: Vingt mille lieues sous les mers | Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea - Jules Verne
Genre: Angst, Aronnax still has a crush on Nemo, Fluff, M/M, Ned Land has a temper, Post-Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2019-08-18
Packaged: 2020-09-07 03:35:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20302807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hanna_Tucker/pseuds/Hanna_Tucker
Summary: My companions didn't offer up a comment in response. Nor did they object. So for the remainder of that evening, we simply sat and ate. Of course Ned continued to be a glutton that night, and ate two more steaks.He would have eaten a third if Conseil hadn't quietly stolen it off his plate.





	Figure It Out

Our return to the shores of man was surprisingly anticlimactic. It was if we had never left. The people didn't seem all too shocked at our "coming back from the dead" as Ned put it. My lodgings had remained virtually unchanged and my babirusa was as well fed as ever. In any case, my companions were more than pleased to be back on shore. Conseil was as usual, unflappable, and Ned might as well have been prancing around in joy. I on the other hand was solemn that evening.

I gazed at my companions, who sat across from me at the table stuffing themselves with as many terrestrial dishes they could possibly fit in their stomachs. I barely touched my own plate. It almost seemed that they had already forgotten our ten-month long misadventure under the sea. I was so absorbed in my reflections that I hadn't even heard a single word of my friends' conversation until Ned addressed a question to me.

"What about you, Professor?"

I looked up at him, blinking in confusion. "What about me, Ned?"

"Aren't you glad to be off that cursed Nautilus?" Ned asked. "Now, don't mistake my meaning- the experience had its moments, but it is nice to be back in civilisation, isn't it? And eating real red meat, by _thunder!_ I bet you twenty francs that I could eat another ten steaks and still want more!"

I looked back down at my plate, uncertain as to how to reply. I silently poked at my beef with my fork as I considered my response carefully. Conseil saved me from having to say anything by telling Ned, "My dear Ned, we've just gotten back to civilised lands. Don't you think it rather imprudent to ask such a question when we're all still trying to readjust to the fact?"

"I didn't mean to be rude," Ned said in a softer tone. "It was just a question."

I pushed my plate back and stood up, wiping my face with my handkerchief. "If you'll excuse me, I must start deciding on where I want to go next."

"Begging master's pardon, but you do not wish to remain in France?" Conseil looked at me with puzzlement.

I shrugged noncommittally as I replied, "I don't quite want to go back to that life just yet. This experience has changed me- there are still places I want to go, to see. If this ordeal has taught me one thing, it's that time waits for no man. I'd like to go to my deathbed knowing I have seen everything there is to see."

"So where will you go?" Ned asked curiously as he stuffed a particularly large chunk of meat into his mouth. Gluttony does not even begin to describe the harpooner's behaviour at the moment.

"I'm not certain. This ordeal... it's made me realise that life is too short for me to sit idly by in an office grading students' assignments," I explained to them, my words tinged with unpleasant uncertainty. "I want to see the world. All of it, while I still have the chance. There are many things left for me to learn, for me to see, for me to do..." My companions didn't offer up a comment in response. Nor did they object. So for the remainder of that evening, my friends simply ate while I sat in the room across from them, my mind overwhelmed with the fact the fact that there were so many places in the world. I didn't know where to start. I leaned forward in my chair and observed my hungry companions. Of course Ned was continuing to be a glutton that night, and he ate two more steaks.

He would have eaten a third if Conseil hadn't quietly stolen it off his plate.

**Author's Note:**

> While I've already written several chapters, posting time will still be slow, as I want to polish them further. Constructive criticism appreciated, FLAMES are NOT.


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